Just Like You Imagined, Part I
by Kirasdream
Summary: OC Story of L'Xen and his rise, fall, and ultimately his redemption in the Irken Empire. Part I is about his childhood & training. Will eventually meet Zim and co. in Razorblade Tragedy Story Collab between my friend and I in later parts. Some humor.
1. Prologue

Kavan had reached the Incubation room, pressing a signal by the door. He waited patiently until the door slid open for a midsize Irken female with green eyes to greet him. She looked at him and sighed, shaking her head slightly, but stood aside to allow him to enter the dark room.

Lights above them were dimmed, and the room was lit by the hundreds of glowing cylinders that were lined in rows and columns on the walls with the end as a tiny black square on the horizon. In addition to the shimmering radiance from the various instruments and the hum of the central computer, it was as if the two Irkens were standing in open space observing the stars around them. "So, what do we have in store for today?" Kavan asked, trying to make conversation after several minutes of silence.

"Only a couple of smeets are scheduled to be born today." Intali replied, not bothering to look up from her palm data screen as she walked along the aisles. She knew why he was here, but was willing to delay. "Strange compared to that there was such an influx of them as of late."

"Our empire is growing." Kavan said, stopping to examine a couple of the cylinders.

"I realize that." Intali replied coolly, and was about to usher him further along when she noticed Kavan staring at a particular cylinder right above him. He reached up and touched an orange-gold cylinder, his eyes clouded but with a small flicker of hope.

"I wonder which—"

"You probably would not know." Intali interrupted, indicating that they were to continue on.

He looked at her, almost pleading. "But you could check—"

"No, I could not. You are already too…_attached_." She said the word carefully. "We should be glad that you were not when you volunteered to combine your DNA with Len's. And Gold Eyes are not rare; the brain's seems to choose red and purple eyes to have military ranking and political duties, and the others have the day to day 'clerical' work."

Kavan hesitated, returning his gaze to the cylinder. "Len was an Invader."

"Which shows that she was an exception. Now come along." She said with authority. He was looking more miserable as he stared at the cylinder, which he did not need to be for his next assigning. Recognizing that she would not tolerate his sentiments here, he resigned to take his eyes of the cylinder. But, as he followed his old friend out of the ward, he took one last look back at the lone orange cylinder as the door slid shut.

Within several hours, Intali returned alone to find the smeets had been born and were already interacting with each other on the floor; six smeets snuggled up next to each other, all of them keeping warm, while a lone smeet with Orange-Gold eyes sat away from them, his face briefly revealing a hidden maturity and intelligence when they made eye contact.

_Well, it does not seem like we have to worry about Kavan's emotions spilling out into his descendants. _Intali thought as she woke the other six smeets up, all of them yawning and two of them wanting to be held. She picked the two up and told the rest to follow her, the four rubbing their eyes and moving sluggishly, while the Orange eyed one followed them silently out.

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I have been wanting to write this for a while. And no, he's not going to be a Mary Sue--technically Gary Stu--(just found out what that meant; no laughing). Ok, I'm going to be quiet now.


	2. Ch1 Bonded Puzzle

**Bonded Puzzle**

Taking a brief look about the hall, an average sized smeet peered into the classroom. Already, the several smeets that had arrived before he did had begun talking to one another, sitting on the desks that were lined in perfect rows and columns. Apparently, they were nursery mates, since they laughed and joked with each other easily, none of them nervous on their first day of basic training. Not that the lone, orange/gold-eyed smeet in the hallway was…or would at least show it.

He looked back at the hallway he stood in. The machinery that permeated the walls hummed quietly, the lights giving a blue-ish hue. He saw, at both ends of the hallway, elevators hissing open, and several smeets stepping out and walking towards the classroom, excitement running wild.

_Great._ L'Xen thought wearily, and then headed inside, noticing a medium sized holograph picture of the Tallest Sanzen at the front of the class, walking past the group of smeets quietly before claiming a seat in the very back. He admitted to himself wasn't very good at making friends; actually, he hadn't had one before. He didn't think that he would need one, but he was a little lonely. He took company in his nursery-mates, but he never connected with them personally like they had each other. Course, it had only been several months since he had been born, and he only had contact with six other smeets, not including his caretaker, so perhaps now he would have better luck with a larger, more diverse group of smeets.

He watched the classroom slowly fill up, smeets favoring the front of the room rather than the back, except for a lilac smeet who, like him seemed to prefer less noise, took an empty seat next to his. The talk was loud, too loud, and thoroughly irritating, and L'Xen was wholly glad when their instructor, a stout Irken wearily came in, gesturing for the class to quiet, pushing a button for the door to slide shut.

The Green-eyed Instructor withdrew a small metallic stick, which lengthened into a rod with the flick of his wrist. Several smeets drew back, including the lilac-eyed smeet. Upon noticing this, the Instructor shook his head, sighing. "You had Cylr or R'lan as your caretaker, didn't you?" He asked the group wearily, who all nodded cautiously. "I can assure you that I only use this to point at something at the screen behind me, since I seem to be height challenged." Some of the smeets giggled, and the Instructor smiled, causing the class to relax a little more. "So…how many of you are there…." His eyes swept the room. "There are only twenty-seven of you—"

"Sorry I'm late!!!" A tall smeet banged through the door, panting as if he had run across the ship to get there. He caught sight of the Instructor and threw himself to the floor. "Forgive me, O Mighty teacher of smeets!!"

"Why were you late, Circin?" The Instructor asked in resign amongst more giggles. L'Xen leaned his cheek onto his gloved hand. _ A class clown. And he already knows the teacher. Wonderful._

"Funny story about that." The blue-eyed smeet replied. "I was just minding my own business in the nursery, and then the biggest Sdvag you'd ever seen came crashing—"

"Just pick a seat." The Instructor interrupted wearily.

"Yessir!" Circin saluted, then quickly looked about the room, before his eyes lit up, striding past smeets looking at him hopefully.

_Is he…?_ L'Xen thought, and sure enough, the blue-eyed smeet plopped into the desk next to his.

"Hi!!" Circin said brightly, eyeing both L'Xen and the lilac smeet, who both just stared at him.

"You can talk later." The Instructor said shortly, though Circin didn't seem to take offense. "Now, since we all seem to be here, let me introduce myself. I am Y'un, and I will be your Basic Training Instructor for the next several months, until you take Exams and find your mentors to become whatever you're destined to be. Though destinies _can_ be changed." He said sternly, stressing that his last sentences was the one they should remember first and foremost. "The classroom is uniform enough, but let us see some individuality here. Please stand up and tell us your name."

Once they had gone through the whole classroom (Circin would have gone on a tangent about his life story if Y'un hadn't told L'Xen to introduce himself, and the lilac smeet that shared the back row with them was named Lihli), Y'un began a brief explanation of their syllabus for the coming months; at the beginning of class they would salute the picture of their leader; the classes themselves would include information that every Irken should know, and each class would feature a different profession for the Smeets to experience.

"Why can't the Brain download everything into our Pak in one day?" A purple-eyed smeet asked.

"One, your minds have not grown enough to handle all that information in one day; it would be like a computer overload." Y'un explained. "Two, it'll be easier for Virus' to sneak into the system and get downloaded into your Pak. Most of the virus' can be easily fixed, but some of them can make the Pak malfunction, and essentially kill you. And third," he said amongst the worried looks, though a smeet with pinkish eyes muttered 'Cool….', "Actually experiencing something is entirely different from just getting it downloaded. For instance, your mind may know how to block an attack, but does your body react fast enough to do so? Only actually engaging in an activity will give you a skill. Any more questions?"

Circin raised his hand. "What if we don't like what we end up with?"

"If you don't like your profession _after being in it for a reasonable time_," Circin smirked at Y'un's emphasis, "you do have the option of transferring to something different, though sometimes you will require permission from the Tallest."

"Is it true that we will be put into dormitories?" Another smeet asked.

"Yes, it is." Y'un replied as the other smeets looked around at each other, already determining who they wanted to be with. "Starting in a week, you will get into groups of four and be given a common area to live on this ship. The groups of four are usually randomized, but you have to option of choosing who you would like to live with, but more on that tomorrow."

After several more questions, Y'un told them how to use their desks to activate various programs, thin tubes snaking from the metallic desks and into their Paks. They all were used to seeing technology limited to caring for them in their Nurseries, so the holographic displays that arose in front of them excited them, even more so when they found the displays were interactive and neural commanded.

"I know you're not anxious to leave, but your scheduled time is up." Y'un said ninety minutes later as the smeets were going through data file through data files.

"Can't we stay here?" Circin asked pleadingly, still playing with the screens, while others nodded excitedly in agreement.

Y'un smiled. "Wanting to learn. I like this generation. I'm sorry, but you will need to return to your nurseries." Groaning, they all grudgingly got up and started for the door. "Do not worry, you'll not be so anxious to stay in a little while. See you tomorrow." He called as they all began to file out the door.

L'Xen waited for most of the smeets to go into the hallway before him, and then proceeded to head for an isolated elevator when a hand smacked his back. He started, turning around to glare at the perpetrator. It was Circin, who beamed at him.

"Oh, didn't mean to scare you." He said apologetically.

"You didn't." L'Xen said calmly as he could, attempting to hint that he wanted to be alone to think when Circin joined his side.

"You excited about tomorrow?"

L'Xen could only wonder why Circin was still talking to him, but he didn't want to be too rude. "I guess…" He was curious about the professions at least. "…uhm, you?"

"Sure am!" Circin nodded happily. "Hey Lihli! See you tomorrow!" He suddenly called as the lilac-eyed smeet went quietly past them, who looked plain surprised that she was addressed, and then scurried away without a word.

"What's with her?" Circin wondered as the headed for the elevator.

L'Xen narrowed his eyes, glancing down the hallway as Lihli went to the opposite elevator. "I can only speculate. Do you know any of her nurse mates?"

"No, I think they were in other classes." Circin said. There were only 104 smeets in their generation, so it was easy for them to know who belonged to which nursery. "This Cylr or R'lan person doesn't seem nice, though."

"Cylr used to be a general, but that's all I know. I go up." L'Xen said as Circin reached for the button for the elevator.

"Hey, me too!" Circin said, delighted. "What floor?"

"167th in the 11-V section." Hopefully Circin wasn't planning to do anything with the information.

"Ah. I'm 172nd 3-S section." Circin sounded disappointed. "Hey, what's your favorite food?"

Small chat ensued all the way up to L'Xen's stop; luckily, Circin talked too much for there to be any awkward pauses.

"Bye!!" Circin waved as L'Xen stepped off. "See ya tomorrow!"

L'Xen waved back hesitantly as the doors slid shut, turning to go to his nursery, to see his caretaker waiting for him.

"Made a new friend?" Intali asked, bemused.

"Perhaps." L'Xen replied. "I'm going to work on some things." With a polite nod, he walked past her and went into the nursery, Intali still standing in the hallway to greet the rest of the smeets under her care as they arrived separately.

\_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/ \_|_/

L'Xen sat in a chair closest to the main computer in the nursery, tinkering with some small handheld device, taking a brief look to his nurse mates, who were running and shrieking, playing with each other. Intali was by the door, talking to a very tall Irken with blood red eyes, who was a regular visitor of Intali's. L'Xen's nurse-mates liked to joke that there was something going on between the two Irkens, but Intali was clearly not interested in the older Irken.

L'Xen looked back to what he was working on; he noticed that there were two wires that were cut. He pondered a little more, and then put on the set of goggles that he had found when he went exploring on the ship when he was younger, and poked at one of wires with the other with a set of pliers. There was a spark, and the device he held lit up, a series of beeps sounding. He fused the wires with an Incin, a tool that heats anything that it touches, and looked it over carefully, before setting it down on the desk beside him. Putting back together the palm device was easier than he had originally thought, but he wanted to test if Y'un's puzzle was true from three days earlier.

His fourth day of class had consisted of working in groups that Y'un had assigned after they had their would-be 'daily' routine of downloading information. L'Xen had been paired up with Circin (who had been becoming less irritating. He had made it a routine to visit L'Xen, however short the visits were, and his humor was growing on him), Lihli (still shy), and the pink-eyed smeet named Matin, who kept looking at Lihli, as the classroom desks grouped into fours and mechanically merged to form into seven big desks.

"You are all going to receive a puzzle," Y'un said, as all the smeets sat at their group desk, the centers of the metallic surface twisting themselves into odd shapes and forms, or L'Xen's group's case, words. "Together, try to find what it means. Whichever groups solves their puzzle within ten minutes will be able to use their clue to solve next week's puzzle."

"So this is a weekly assignment?" A smeet two groups away asked.

"For the time being, yes." Y'un replied.

"How do we solve them?"

Y'un smiled mischievously. "That's for you to find out, isn't it?"

"What do you think it is?" Circin said as each group hurriedly started working on their puzzle. He picked up their own puzzle, a metallic slab with strange writing on it, turning it around in his palm to see it at all angles. L'Xen narrowed his eyes at the slab; he couldn't decipher the strange symbols on the slate.

"I dunno." Matin replied, taking the slab from Circin without permission, who looked at him and shrugged. "It's not in Irken, otherwise we could read it. What do you think, smeet?" He said, passing the slab to Lihli, who just stared at it, blinking.

L'Xen and Circin exchanged a glance about the way that Matin was talking to Lihli. Matin was smart but opinionated, and was harsh at times. Meanwhile, Lihli never spoke; some smeets had begun to wonder if she were 'defective'. "…Can I see that?" L'Xen asked politely after Lihli remained statuary for several seconds. Lihli nodded, still looking down, and slid it across the desk to L'Xen. The writing looked very geometrical and stiff, not like the flow of their Irken language. However at a closer look, it was familiar….

"It looks similar to numbers." L'Xen said, putting down the slab and giving it to Circin to confirm.

"It doesn't look like the numbers WE have." Matin scoffed as Circin surveyed it again.

"Lihli, what do you think?" Circin asked kindly.

Lihli blinked, her eyes traveling to see that her group was looking at her, before looking at the slab. "Uhm…I think he," she glanced at L'Xen, "is right…it is numbers." Her voice was slightly deeper than what L'Xen had thought it was. Circin looked shocked that she even answered at all.

"And how does it look like numbers?" Matin asked with mock interest.

Lihli shrunk back a little. "Uh…it's just in a different style than what we're used to seeing, like a different font, that's all…I could be wrong, it might be different, but—"

"No, I think that's it." Circin said before Matin could reply back. "If you squint at it, you can probably read it."

"This is ridiculous." Matin muttered, sitting back and folding his arms.

"A puzzle is meant to make an Irken think in different ways than one is used to." L'Xen stated, trying to tune the impending bickering out.

"And just because you can't read it doesn't mean it's wrong." Circin added, glaring at Matin. "So we're all agreed that it's numbers? Alright proceed."

"Who died and made you tallest?" Matin challenged.

"No one." L'Xen said sternly, taking the slab and setting it to the middle of the table. "We just need to work together on this; what would it look like if it were numbers, Matin?"

Matin glared back at Circin, who equally stared daggers, before shifting his eyes onto the slab, which—if indeed numbers—read: .7.19--1.18.9--1.19.--..20.5.4--1.19.--15.14.5--.19--.--15.21.20.--20.15--2.5.

"Some code, I guess; the 'numbers' are grouped together into sections…"

"Like a sentence." Lihli said quietly.

Everyone looked at her, surprised at the voluntary suggestion, when L'Xen looked back at the slab. No, it couldn't be that simple….the code was long, but he already saw patterns…

"The numbers could stand for a letter in the Irken alphabet." Circin muttered. "But we have letters in the double digits…"

"The lines and the dots." L'Xen pointed them out. "The dots separate the letters, and the lines separate the words."

"So we just go over the alphabet and match each letter with a number and substitute it into the 'sentence'." Matin summarized. "C'mon, it can't be that easy."

"One way to find out." Circin said cheerfully, touching some buttons on the desk to create a holo-screen, matching numbers with letters. "Well, according to this…" Circin said, as everyone leaned towards him to get a better look at the screen. "The code would be: 'Things are as complicated as one makes them out to be'." They all looked at each other.

"You're kidding, right?" Matin asked in exasperation. "That's the message? We've already heard that phrase a million times every time we begin class. There has to be some trick to it…"

"Obviously the message hasn't sunk in." Circin muttered under his breath. L'Xen almost began to laugh before covering it up. "Perhaps we should get Y'un to verify it; if not we'll keep looking." L'Xen suggested.

"Good idea, L'Xen." Circin said. "Is that alright?" He asked Matin in a would-be civilized tone.

Matin hesitated. "Fine." He allowed, settling back into his chair as Circin hailed for Y'un, who walked steadily over.

"Hmm, let me see what you have got." He said, half to himself, when he looked to the screen Circin gestured to. He paused. "Is this your final answer?" He then asked, looking at each of them in turn.

Circin and L'Xen slightly wavered. So they weren't going to get a second chance if they got it wrong. They glanced at Matin, who grudgingly gave a short nod, and Lihli responded the same. "Yes." The four smeets said in unison.

Y'un continued to look at them, expressionless, making them unbearably wait, and then smiled. "You are correct; you're the third group to finish, and within 8 minutes and 53 seconds. You may store the quote into your Paks and are free to use it next week."

"It'd better be useful." Matin said in undertone as Y'un walked away to the next group that called for him.

"It will. Good work team! I wonder what the other groups got." Circin said, sighing with relief.

"Probably something harder." Matin muttered.

L'Xen leaned back in his seat, listening to Matin and Circin begin to squabble as Lihli watched them at the corner of her eyes, waiting for the ten minutes to finalize. For some odd reason, he felt some sort of…connection…to all three smeets. Glancing at the other groups, they all seemed to be getting along, even if two members of the group hated each other. There was another intention for this activity besides solving puzzles…

"Oi, L'Xen!"

L'Xen abruptly ended his reminiscing, looking up from the device that he had fixed, finding Circin carrying several bags in the doorway next to Intali and the other Irken.

"C'mon! Don't tell me you're not packed—oh you fixed it!" Circin continued as he entered the room, smiling at L'Xen's nurse mates when they waved at him (Circin had become a usual sight by then). L'Xen handed Circin the device as Circin lowered his bags.

"Can you not store everything you own in your Pak?" L'Xen asked as Circin turned the device over in his gloved hands.

"Not enough room." Circin grinned, pocketing the device. "Well, if anything goes wrong in our room, then we already have maintenance living with us! Thanks for fixing this, anyhow."

"Not a problem." Said L'Xen, rising from his seat. "I can't fix everything though."

"Ah, you will." Circin said dismissively. "Anyway, we should get going; I don't want to leave Matin and Lihli alone in the room for long…"

"Alright, just let me say goodbye." L'Xen said, standing, storing the rest of his tools into his Pak. His nurse-mates stopped for several seconds to wave goodbye, while he bowed to Intali to thank her for caring for him, bowing also to the other Irken for respect, and then followed Circin to their dormitory.

At the beginning, Circin, Lihli, nor Matin would have been his first choice of roommates, but after the group exercise none of them (even Circin) was comfortable with rooming with someone outside of their group. Indeed, Y'un was in the process of creating another puzzle underneath the puzzles that he was planning on giving them. L'Xen had a sneaking suspicion that the question 'why?' would be answered with the last puzzle that they were to be given.

* * *

Hope you have enjoyed!!

If anyone has ANY military knowledge, please give me :D. This is eventually going to be a military-kind of thing-ish, and any info from people who know the information would be great. I don't want to google it and find bogus info...

I would have made the puzzle much harder, but I didn't have time (and I'm going to start the new semester in a couple of days...oh dear). But, it worked out anyhow...

For the IZ fans who know extensively about the IZ universe, I put this story in the time period just before the Tallest Miyuki's reign, and things are different (IE being educated in the cruise-ships instead of underground on Irk, etc), so yes...if you want to learn more about the IZ universe, especially about the Irken social elite, physiology, and other stuff (it would slightly help), just go google it (especially the WIKI page; it includes the Irken alphabet too; that gets more complex in itself though). I made up the Tallest Sanzen, so yeah...

Matin's future is going to be much different than I had originally planned...Circin needs to be funnier. Grr.


	3. Ch2 Out There

Chapter Two—"Out There"

L'Xen had followed Circin down the six levels to the hall where their dormitories were located, which were much closer to the classrooms than their nurseries, so Circin no longer had the excuse of being late again. Circen had also noticed that fact, and on the elevator went on a rant about how the teachers were conspiring against him.

"I mean, seriously, it all fits!" Circen puffed out his cheeks, which he did when he was annoyed. "Y'un's cool and all, but his goal in life seems to be pointing out that I'm late all the time."

L'Xen sighed, looking at the lights on the elevator door that indicated which floor they were on. "How about you come on time next class?"

"What? And ruin my late streak?"

L'Xen shrugged, and in response the elevator dinged. They had reached their floor.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Circin muttered as the door slid open. "Throw them into a confusion—what the—"

They were greeted by chaos. Apparently, they weren't the only ones living in this hall. Several classes worth of Smeets were running around, tossing bags over other smeets' heads, shouting for their roommates, and bickering over who got what room.

"Ah, I don't think we can find Matin or Lihli in this crowd, right?" Circin said in an awed voice as they stepped out.

L'Xen looked at him. "As you are six inches higher, I think you would have the vantage point."

"You're right." Circin breathed in deep, a smile on his face amidst the crowd. "Well, let's go to our room!"

Maneuvering through the crowd was easy enough for Circin, but it was a bit harder for L'Xen. He eventually got into a rhythm of turning his body in ways he wasn't used to, and actually kind of liked weaving in and out of the crowd. They finally reached their room, number 628, and Circin entered in their code in the keypad on the door.

"23*7#." Circen muttered over to L'Xen, and the door slid open with a hiss. Circen hauled in his luggage first and was followed by L'Xen, and the door closed behind them, the noise from the crowd instantly dissipating.

Their shared living space was essentially a square, but their common space in an octagon shape, and their individual rooms were in the corners of the square, separated by it's own door. The two in the back already had two names shining from a small rectangular screen, "Lihli" and "Matin". Large, metallic walls bordered the room, along with several gadgets and keypads on each wall. Lihli and Matin were sitting on separate small couches that were situated in the middle of the common space, and both looked up from what they were doing (reading from a handheld device and examining a small holographic ship, respectively) once the other two smeets entered.

"Ah, so you have arrived." Matin said, nodding to them. "Got here two hours ago. Lihli came in thirty minutes ago."

"Good to know." Circen said, looking around at the massive walls. "What do you say about decorating this place?"

Lihli looked interested, but Matin shook his head. "Can't. Y'un said that we were not allowed to do that for the common space. Otherwise this place would be decked out by now."

Lihli looked disappointed, and seeing this L'Xen added "But we can still decorate our rooms. If we want."

Matin scoffed. "Have you seen how _small_ they are?"

"Doesn't matter how small they are." Circen scowled as he went to the one closest to the door and pressing a button to open it. "We could still—HOLY FREAKIN CRAP how am I supposed to live in here?"

L'Xen looked over Circen's shoulder. Luckily, Circen' height would be accommodated with nine foot ceiling, but all there was room for was a small bed, dresser, and a small machine that was multi-functional (holographs, data, communication, etc). Well, it wasn't too bad…

Circen had a different opinion. "This kind of…sucks."

"I suppose this is practice for later on." L'Xen said, recalling some information that Y'un had told them earlier. "The soldiers don't get bigger rooms than this either."

Matin seemed to sit straighter at this information, while Circen puffed out his cheeks. "No way I'm going into the military. Ah could be worse." He gathered his stuff up and tossed it into his room. L'Xen cast his eyes around the living room again, and noticed a simple button on the back wall. It was gold, so it stood out amongst all the silver.

"Oh, do we have visual broadcasting here?" Circen asked as L'Xen headed towards the back.

"Yeah." Lihli piped up.

"Never mind that we can't work it." Matin murmured.

L'Xen reached the back wall, his finger on the button, duly listening to Circen answer, "L'Xen can figure it out, probably. Look, he fixed this."

As Matin and Lihli got up to examine the device Circen held, L'Xen pressed the button. In response, a loud grinding sound was emitted from the wall. L'Xen immediately lifted his finger off the button.

"Uh, what'd you do?" Matin called over the noise as L'Xen backed away slowly.

"I just pressed a button," L'Xen said defensively and feeling incredibly stupid. Wasn't it Matin or Circen whose curiosity got the best of them? It wasn't like the ship would blow up. He hoped.

A seam appeared in the middle, and slowly started growing bigger; the wall divided, and the top half moved upward while the bottom portion moved downward, opening into a large window the size of the wall. Both portions halted two inches away from the ceiling and floor, and all four smeets froze. Outside, they could see various parts of the ships, cylinder like tunnels snaking into the massive first and second wings, lights from the rooms inside the ship winking at them. They could even see the main hull if they looked to their far right, which had been rebuilt recently, supporting several tiers and balconies even. It was the billions of stars that fluttered in luminance that compelled them all to rush over and press their hands against the glass for a better look. They had never seen what it had looked like outside, and up until then didn't really have a reason or desire to.

"…Is that a galaxy?" Circen asked, pointing to a distant cluster of stars with a giant center bulge.

"Y-yeah." Matin said, his eyes wide.

Lihli was almost pressing her face into the glass, as if her body could float through the glass. "It's pretty, isn't it?"

The three others nodded, wonderment struck across their faces. L'Xen could see a bit closer from the galaxy was a large star, it's light gently pulsating. Flares danced across its surface, jumping and entwining, eventually disappearing into the darkness. He continued to stare at it, none of them moving away from the window.

L'Xen pressed his palm harder to the glass, as if his hand would melt through the glass and touch the glowing star.

It didn't matter what occupation he would choose. He would one day explore out there, surrounded by the darkness with tiny lights sparkling. And looking at his fellow roommates, he knew that he wouldn't be alone in that venture.

* * *

"Ok, take a look at the list of upcoming classes."

In unison, the class accessed their syllabus from their desks, holograms appearing in front of each smeet.

"Each of the classes you see will have at least two days dedicated to it." Y'un said as smeets began reading each of the classes. "The first day is for reading and discussion, and the second day is a practical lesson. Some classes, such as flying, will take over a week to do, and your combat classes will be everyday starting tomorrow." He tapped his rod, to which all the smeets gave him their attention. "I would take these next three months seriously, as each class denotes a profession. At the end, you will be assessed with your performance in each class and will be given an exam to see what you are best suited for. After that, you will be out of my hands and out with your mentor." He concluded, spreading his hands. All the smeets looked thoroughly excited, to which Y'un grinned. "So, any questions?"

While he was met by a flurry of hands, L'Xen began mentally scrolling down the list of bold lettering, the hologram following his example. It seemed that the classes would focus on almost all the professions that the Irken Empire had to offer; while there were the usual ones (Various military, which included the army, flying combat, and of course Invasion, amongst others; Politics and Civil Service; Communications, Maintenance, etc), there were some others in there (The arts; Incubation; Physiology; Medical; even Fast Food and Garbage Disposal). Most of them _were_ to be two days long, but the Flying, Politics, Medical, and Invasion classes would take at least four days each.

"Psst. Which one are you looking forward to?" Circen leaned over to L'Xen, his eyes squinted and looking around, as if he were a spy failing to be discreet.

L'Xen looked back at the list. "Hmmm…I suppose Mechanics and Weaponry."

Circen frowned. "Pegged you for those, but what about military?"

L'Xen tapped his finger on his desk. Circen pegged him for something military like? "Perhaps Invasion." He said, choosing a random class. "What about you?"

"Politics." Circen grinned. "Especially the ambassador section."

L'Xen had to admit, he thought that would be good match for him. Circen had already solved several roommate disputes between Matin and Lihli (more like Matin was too assertive and Lihli too unassertive), though L'Xen did have to step in before Circen and Matin would start bickering. "I think you'll like that class."

"Ah, so it is a good match." Circen beamed. "Matin's looking forward to all the military classes—no surprise there—and Lihli reckons the arts may be interesting." He added, giving L'Xen a significant look.

L'Xen looked round to Lihli, who was on the other side of Circen. "I think the arts would be nice too." He told her, and she looked up at him, giving him a quick nod.

"Those combat classes look awesome." Matin called over Lihli. "I hope we just don't stand around tomorrow."

The next day, however, they _did_ have to stand around in combat class. More like sit around and watch holograms of various combat forms that they would be taught, which L'Xen found to be pretty educational. They would first start with hand-to-hand combat, and then add some weapons within a month. While some smeets were grumbling with the lack of fighting (i.e. Matin), when they were dismissed, the instructor, a tall buff female irken, had smirked and told them that they should enjoy their time off.

"Screw that, I want to punch somebody." Matin complained when they got back to the room, throwing himself on the couch. Circen just shrugged cheerfully, glad to get out of classes early, while Lihli looked tremendously relieved that they didn't do anything during the combat class. By the large open window, L'Xen sat down with a communication device that Matin had 'accidently' broken the day before and began repairing it. What good would hand to hand fighting be in Mechanics or Weaponry?

_Probably a swollen black eye that would impair looking at the finer details of machines_, was the conclusion L'Xen had come up with when he was punched in the face and sent flying to the ground three days later.

"Oh dude, I'm so sorry!" His partner, a big, purple-eyed smeet named Okata, looked horrorified when he rushed over to L'Xen's side. "I didn't know that would—"

"It's his own fault." The instructor said, who had come up to see what was going on. "He didn't block. Next time, I would advise doing so."

L'Xen nodded, wiping blood off from under his eye. Sounds of other punches and yells were rebounding off the huge walls of the combat area, with a combination of three Smeet classes in the room. His partner was from a different class from him, but he was nice, and L'Xen was wholly glad that he had been paired with him for the past three days.

"She's kinda mean, isn't she?" He muttered when R'lan went over to bully the pair next to them, who were both lying on the ground panting.

"Just a bit, but I should have blocked anyway." L'Xen muttered back. He felt a bit embarrassed that he didn't even see his partner's fist coming. Even after three days of it flying towards him. "C'mon, we better continue or else R'lan will come back."

"Ok." Okata stepped back, his hands by his side, sinking into a stance. "You punch me, this time."

"Uhm, ok." L'Xen felt incredibly stupid. There was no way that he could hurt this guy. Not that he really wanted to, but the object of the next lessons were to develop instincts to block incoming attacks. If you got hit, then it'll toughen up your body. It was a win-win situation, long term, but right now it was a more like hurt-hurt situation. L'Xen swung his fist back and tried to jab Okata, who practically swatted it aside.

"What is your dominant side?" Okata asked, relaxing while L'Xen's confidence took a bit of a dive.

"Don't have one." L'Xen admitted, not looking at him. "I'm bidexterous."

Okata's eyes lit up. "Whoa really?" He sounded really envious. L'Xen didn't really think it was too special, and having that "skill" was not at all helpful to him right now. Maybe to Okata it would, since he could send people flying with his right OR his left hand.

"Ok, lemmee think a sec," Okata said, putting a hand to his chin. "Uhm, pivot your hips, like this," he demonstrated, his right fist closed to his side with his right hip angled back, "and then turn your hips while you're punching," he did so slowly, so L'Xen could watch him, and then again fast. "You try. I won't block this time."

Besides wanting to regain his pride, L'Xen really wanted to do this right, since Okata was being kind enough to explain this fighting paradox to him. Thinking it over, he decided to use his right side. Following Okata's instructions, he turned his right side back, his knees slightly bent, and then pivoted suddenly, his arm flowing his right side, landing a blow to Okata's chest, forcing Okata to stumble back a little.

"Not bad," Okata said, grinning. "This time do it faster."

After an hour of punching back and forth, L'Xen and the others zombied out of class, bodies bruised and cut, but L'Xen nonetheless had a sense of accomplishment, especially after he nailed Okata in the stomach so hard that he doubled over, and felt like he could punch someone hard if he needed to. As did Matin, who had the least amount of bruises out L'Xen, Circen or Lihli.

"Aw man, that class is so freakin' awesome!!" Matin said excitedly as they headed back to the room together. "I was SO kickin' that guy's butt, couldn't even block or anything. I think R'Lan likes me, told me to keep it up."

"Well good for you." Circen's mood had gone down, and he looked really frustrated. He had two black eyes and a bloody lip and had a slight limp, bad enough for Circen to sling an arm around L'Xen's shoulders to support himself.

"Don't hate because some female beat you up." Matin sneered. "Hey Lihli, how'd you like being paired with Sani?"

Lihli didn't answer, and her expression was unreadable. If Circen looked bad, she looked worse. The numerous bruises on her arms were already a deep blue, and while her eyes weren't swollen, both cheeks looked like they would be. At least she could walk. She didn't talk even when they got back to the room, where she instantly shut herself in her room.

"Could've been more sensitive to her." Circen said grimly as L'Xen set him on the couch, going to get some bandages. "She's obviously pretty beat up and doesn't like it."

"So what? It'll make her tough." Matin said dismissively. "She needs more of it; otherwise people will beat her up all the time."

L'Xen and Circen exchanged a glance. Lihli and tough did not go together. L'Xen applied some anti-infection gel to Circen's large cut on his arm. They had begun the Medical classes several days ago, which was a pretty smart idea since their injuries were gradually getting worse. "Need some tape?" L'Xen said, offering the tape to Matin, who had a cut on his cheek.

Matin shook his head, looking proud. "I'm going to let this become a scar."

Circen rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

L'Xen looked at the window, which he was becoming used to the scenes outside. He sighed gravelly. As much as they wanted to be out in the world, he knew that it was going to take a long time before they could.

* * *

Very sorry for the late update! I wrote this several months ago, but yeah...here ya go.


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